The Philadelphia 76ers are now expecting to hold first-round draft pick Nerlens Noel out for the entire upcoming season as he recovers from knee surgery, coach Brett Brown said Monday.

"I doubt, everybody doubts that he's going to play this year," Brown said before the Sixers played the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. "We don't want to waste this year. I think from a skill perspective, it's an opportunity for us to break down his shot, really work on his free throws and start a little bit from ground zero."

It was not originally the Sixers' plan to sit Noel, the No. 7 overall pick who had surgery to repair the ACL in his left knee last March, for the entire season. He first suffered the injury last Feb. 12 while playing for the Kentucky Wildcats.

The timetable for Noel's recovery was initially set for 6-8 months, which was expected to allow him to return sometime in the middle of his rookie season.

Dr. James Andrews, who performed the surgery, told ESPN in June that Noel was ahead of schedule.

"We're really happy with his progress," Andrews said at the time. "He's several weeks ahead of schedule on his rehab. He's improving on a weekly basis. He has a completely stable knee."

The Sixers' slashed their payroll to the lowest in the league and left several holes on the roster with moves over the summer. The team is re-tooling for the future and the conservative decision regarding Noel appears to follow that path.

Philadelphia acquired Noel and a protected 2014 first-round draft pick to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. It was believed Noel slid on some draft boards because of concern over his knee.
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Big surprise. The 76ers are obviously tanking and I'd be more surprising if they tried to get him playing as soon as possible. Even trying all out this 76er team isn't anywhere near being a playoff contender.

Why play him? Its obvious they are tanking, so just sit him for the year and have him play next season fresh and ready to go. The obvious question now is are the Sixers going to be the worst team in NBA history?

As a sixers fan. I disagree. If the sixers have the first spot in the lottery locked up with 20 games left to play, I would like to see him play. Going against the sixers in practice is barely going against an nba team, so more in game experience would do a lot for his development. If he plays that late in the season, he will not risk hurting his knee again, so the experience is worth it. If they have 5 less wins than the second worst team, they are wasting time not playing him.

I think they should sit him. I really hope they trade Evan Turner and Thad Young. Turner dosent really seem like an good fit next to MCW and Thad should be moved for more picks or young pieces going foward.

Trading Turner would make sense but I don't think they should trade Thad. These young guys need some veteran players to show them the right way to do things in the NBA and Thad Young is a hard worker who lays it on the line every night. I would be very upset to see Thad go.

I want them to tank hard to get Wiggins, it also salivates me as a Sixers fan to see a big man tandem of Nerlens Noel and Julius Randle. One will anchor the defense and the other will operate in the low post. Damn...

Honestly as a Sixers fan Im starting to want Julius Randle the most. Hes the perfect alpha male for a city like Philly same way Cousins was the.best personality fit for us in the 2010 draft.
Randle reminds me of some sort of Elton Brand Josh Smith combo.

I am a big Randle fan myself but preferring him over Wiggins is crazy. Wiggins is the kind of guy that can get your team out of the gutter in a hurry. Randle while being a great fit and great talent isn't at Wiggins talent level now and doesn't posses his ceiling either. Randle probably would be like Cousins in the sense that he will put up good #'s anywhere he goes but he won't be able to transform a team like these Sixers or those Kings into a playoff team.

Clearly the Sixers would love to get any of the top 3 picks since they are all likely future all stars but the gap between #1 and #2 or 3 is pretty big...that is why they are making choices like this to ensure they have the best chance at #1.

The worst thing that could happen would be for the Sixers to go 9-73 and finish with the worst record only to be leapfrogged by 3 teams on lottery night. Then the top 3 picks go Wiggins, Randle, Parker leaving the Sixers choosing from another project big man like WCS or Embiid, wing players like Selden or Young (who I both like a lot but they are not franchise players) or an unknown like Exum.

Honestly as a Sixers fan Im starting to want Julius Randle the most. Hes the perfect alpha male for a city like Philly same way Cousins was the.best personality fit for us in the 2010 draft.
Randle reminds me of some sort of Elton Brand Josh Smith combo.

as a sixers fan ive been waiting for them to do this for years.....mediocrity in the NBA is worse case scenerio....you need to be terrible in order to obtain assets unless your miami, la or new york.....seeing a noel/with any of the top 4 in this draft combo excites the hell out of me

i like noel alot and im glad he is sitting out i believe in brett brown and his development scheme and i believe he can help noel develop post moves and a 12 footer. noel biggest problems is his weight besides his offense i think noel needs to get bigger to bang and be an effective big in this league he was the 6th overall pick and traded for an allstar why waste a year coming off injury if you can take you time to develop and offense and put on some much needed weight to prepare your self to be paired with maybe two lottery pics and start looking towards being par5t of the next up and coming team so i think its a great idea to sit this one out and just improve